Pats will kick tires on Kellen Winslow

The Minutemen were Patriots. The Minutemen were soldiers. Kellen Winslow is a soldier. And so it makes sense for the Patriots to be interested in Kellen Winslow.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Patriots are bringing in Kellen Winslow for a visit.

If signed, Winslow would join a group of tight ends that includes Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, and Visanthe Shiancoe. Then there’s Jake Ballard, whom the Pats claimed on waivers and will carry on injured reserve.

There’s no indication Winslow, who was cut Saturday by the Seahawks, will be offered a contract. If he is, it’s more proof of the extent to which the Pats are transforming NFL offense with big guys who can run and catch.

That said, the Pats likely would wait until after Week One to make a move. If Winslow is signed now, his full base salary would be essentially guaranteed, via the termination pay provision of the CBA.

I see nothing wrong with carrying 4 TE’s on gameday. All it takes is an injury to one of the 3 TE’s and their offensive gameplan will not be as effective. If they sign KW, he might take on the role of Hernandez(should he get injured)

Just like with Kafka there’s no downside in seeing what a player can do first-hand.

Whether he’s just considered a “shadow roster” player for the Pats in case the injury bug hits, or to see what a player signed by another rival can do, there’s no reason not to bring these guys in for a workout.

The Pats are clearly liking the advantage multiple TE sets give them – Hernandez is like a big strong WR and Gronk is almost impossible to stop, carrying 3+ guys with him extra yards when tackled.

Yet if the Patriots O-Line falters, TEs will likely be called upon to stay in and block – and having depth at TE for blocking or pass catching with someone with Winslow’s resume isn’t a bad thing.

But I’m assuming this is just kicking the tires of another shadow roster candidate.

New England does seem preoccupied with stockpiling tight ends as of late. I’m familiar with double tight end sets and even the three tight end formation, but could the Patriots be considering a four tight end formation? What does “The Hoodie” have up his hoodie?

The Patriots’ head coach is one of the greatest of all-time, but I wonder if he isn’t starting to get a little too arrogant for his own good? The shift in focus in the passing game from receiver to tight end worked for the team last season, but NFL defenses adjust quickly and I think this team is weighted too much already towards the tight end position at the expense of the receivers and running game. Of course, only time will tell.

Stop. Aaron Hernandez is a TE only because he needs to have a position beside his name in the media guide. He plays TE about as much as you and me. He is a big ass, nightmare matchup Wide Receiver. When he is not split out he is usually in that Hybrid back type of position. Winslow, hypothetically, would be the real backup TE.

All you need to know about Winslow is he was Jeremy Schockey’s little protoge at Miami. They play well for awhile then it gets old………….

They definitely count. Winning 3 and appearing in 5 is better than just winning 3. Plus Brady is 5-1 in AFC championship games. Montana is the greatest ever, but Montana lost 3 championship games. It would have been better if Montana won 4 and went to 7. It’s better to make it to the big game than to protect the perfect record.

Maybe you should have a link under your cheesy opening one-liner. Otherwise you’ll just confuse potential new viewers or fans that aren’t die-hard enough to have heard about an obscure locker room interview with a Cleveland Browns player from like 6 years ago.

Or maybe you could just post something about Kellen Winslow for once without referring to it. It stopped being funny about 50 posts ago.

Please Somone sign Winslow Jr. i really would love to see him in either Washington, Miami or Carolina. Washington could use another TE for RG3, Carolina’s offensive coordinator loves TEs and Winslow played for him and of course Miami needs a TE and Winslow went there in college.

Gronk as their #1 TE, Winslow as #2. Rotate Hernandez all over the field (TE/FB/WR), leaving offenses to worry about who’s gonna catch the ball. Don’t forget about Welker/Lloyd…heard those guys are “okay”. I’ve learned over the years to never doubt BB, he’s a smart dude.

And they have the easiest strength of schedule this year. Might as well mark them down as the one-seed for the AFC.

Who says they aren’t still cheatin’?

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Basically in the last 10 years, whatever AFC divison draws the NFC west ends up with the easiest schedule in the conference. This year it’s the AFC East and it will be again in 4 years. The only reason Buffalo, NY Jets and Miami don’t have easier schedules mathematically is because they have to play twice against the Patriots who were 13-3 last year.

It’s also the same reason the NFC North has a good schedule this year. They drew the NFC West and the AFC South. Only two proven teams in those 8 games.

jomochiefsfan does make a salient point – they may use another TE for pass blocking situations like they did with Alge Crumpler a couple of years ago. He didn’t go out into the passing game much. He was more of a pass blocker and a very good one.

Belichick isn’t known for being a great evaluator of talent (really look at his draft classes and free agent record), still, I thought even he’d be more concerned about his defense.
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11 of their 26 players on defense weren’t there last year; 8 of those are rookies – 2 of them are starters and 1 of those 2 will be a candidate for DROY.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Belichick ran a 5 TE set and made it successful. I could see how hard it would be to cover 5 players over six foot five. Just having Hernandez, Gronkowski, Ballard, Winslow and Shiancoe as Brady’s receivers would be dangerous. Even though TE’s aren’t speed demons, I bet Gronkowski and Shiancoe could both get deep if needed and Ballard running cross patterns with Hernandez and Winslow staying short for a dump off. All Brady would have to do is toss the ball 2-3 ft above one of his TE’s and it would be practically unstoppable.

What’s gonna happen when defenses get faster and shut down the TEs. The pats might as well dump the WRs, hell they paid their TEs more than their wideouts. No team has used TEs like the pats, even though brady is an elite QB you still need to put pieces around him to succeed and if it takes 10 TEs to do it, well then that’s what it takes.

Winslow definitely needs discipline. Whether he gets a grip or not, it’s worth a look as long as no guarantees are given. Gronkowski was about 50% in the Super Bowl last year because of a hit from the Ravens during the AFC title game. It really limited the Patriots offense. So if you are going to depend on TE’s and an all purpose [ Welker ] it is smart to have two backup TE’s who can step in.

Forget linemen too. They should just sign 10 TEs and start them all. TE lines up at center then turns and hikes the ball to Brady. Everyone goes out on a pass pattern. May want to keep one into block…you know just incase blitzer reaches 5 Mississippi.

Pats will be the single most disappointing team of 2012, guaranteed. They’ll win 9-10 games at most and be eliminated in the first playoff round. Their Super Bowl days are over, this current group is wildly overrated.

I can definitely see this working. A 3 TE set with Gronk, Winslow, and Hernandez. That would be crazy.Winslow and Hernandez have the skill set off most wide receivers. That would be a mismatch. In This set defenses would have to go to nickel formations on defense to cover winslow and Hernandez if they go wide. Then leading to the Pats pounding them with Vereen and Ridley. The are so many options when you have versatile tight ends. Especially Gronkowski.

Even if he signs with New England there is no way they pay him the $3.3 million he was due in his contract. He should have renegotiated a new deal with Seattle. At best he will be a 3rd TE for the Pats when he could have been a starter in Seattle. What a fool!

Close gets you the #31 pick in next year’s draft. The Lamar Hunt trophy pales in comparison to the one with Vince Lombardi’s name on it, and I doubt BB is bragging about winning the AFC Championships.
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No doubt Vince’s trophy is the coveted one by the 31 teams who did not attain it, but only 1 team can win it. Does that mean the other 31 team’s seasons are failures? If the 9-7 Giants, after winning 3 playoff games on the road as underdogs had failed to win this past SB, are you saying that they were a failure?
Going back a few years, one of the most exciting team’s seasons I’ve witnessed was 1972 Steelers. After years of purely dismal performances, the Steelers bore the fruit of a major overhaul and finished with an 11-3 record, beat the Raiders but lost to the Dolphins in the playoffs. They didn’t even win Lamar’s trophy but that didn’t matter to their fans nor to the rest of the NFL fans who marveled and admired this transformation. A losing season because they didn’t win it all? I think not.

and I don’t think you’ll ever hear BB bragging about anything; never has.

I think I recall the Hunt Brothers tried something like this many years ago with silver. I do like the idea of a 5 TE set against Revis twice a year. That would be entertaining. Likely just a typical BB leave-no-stone-unturned move, albeit a curious one. Hey, lets see what that dipstick has left in his tank. Always interesting to be a Pats fan these days.

The multiple TE sets also allow the Pats offense to leave the same personnel on the field, run any multitude of plays from it, ratchet up the tempo, and deny the defense time to substitute or even to know what to substitute into. Then there are the match up issues the defense must deal with….

BB is instituting a transformative offense that creates nightmares for defenses. The biggest question mark for the Pats is offensive line. It’s got some question marks heading into the season and will need to solidify. But the TE sets will also help with that.